Sustainable metropolitan mobility and public-private partnerships : a highway to institutional reform?

Abstract

The "sustainability" literature generally acknowledges a critical role for transportation infrastructure planning, finance, investment, design, construction, operation, and management for addressing the long-term viability of cities and metropolitan areas. At the same time, governments have increasingly employed public-private partnerships (PPPs) for metropolitan transportation infrastructure with the goal of improving project finance, delivery, and long-term management and operation. While proponents of "sustainability" often imply a more collectivist and public-sector-led paradigm and proponents of liberalization often argue for greater private sector intervention and market competition, theory suggests that both sectors offer unique institutional attributes critical to achieving sustainable metropolitan mobility (SMM). The question is how to optimally configure institutions to address the challenge of SMM for metropolitan transportation infrastructure delivery? Focusing on highways, this thesis adopts a broad definition of SMM that compasses efficient road pricing and regulation, integration of metropolitan transportation policy, public acceptability, and technology. It employs a qualitative case study analysis to test theories on optimal institutional configurations against seven cases across the world where PPPs were used to deliver highway infrastructure in metropolitan areas. The results suggest that the distribution of network, traffic, and demand risks; the spatial configuration of highways within metropolitan areas; and political factors play key roles in achieving SMM. Additionally, issues of vertical devolution and integration of government institutions and contract regulation likely play important roles but require more in-depth research.